Traditionally, businesses have deposited checks received from, for example, customers by physically taking the checks to a branch of their bank and depositing them over the counter with a teller or dropping them into a night deposit box. The actual physical presentation of checks to be deposited was necessary because, under prior banking laws, the depository bank had to present the original of each check to the corresponding paying bank in order to clear the check. This changed in October of 2004 with the enactment of The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, commonly referred to Check 21. Check 21 removed the legal requirement that an original paper check had to be presented to obtain payment. Instead, banks can now use digital images to transport check data from the bank of first deposit to the paying bank. If the paying bank cannot process a check image, the image can be printed, according to certain specifications, to create what is known as a substitute check, which is the legal equivalent of the original paper check. Check 21 has thus opened the door for remote check deposit solutions wherein check images, rather than original paper checks, are used to make deposits, thereby enabling businesses to eliminate trips to the bank. In addition, the use of check images also reduces check transportation costs among banks and improves funds availability.
In order to implement a remote check deposit solution, a depositor must have at their location a device that includes, at a minimum, a scanner and a secure network connection, such as a secure Internet connection. When the depositor wishes to make a deposit, an operator, such an accounts receivable clerk, scans each of the checks to be deposited and provides the dollar amount of each check, such as by keying the dollar amount into the device as each check is being scanned. Alternatively, the device may be provided with optical character recognition (OCR) software that is adapted to obtain the dollar amount of each check directly from the scanned image. In either case, once the images are created and the dollar amount of each check is obtained, that information is transmitted through the network (e.g., the Internet) either directly to the depository bank or to a third party service provider which in turn forwards the information on to the depository bank following some additional processing. Once the check images and corresponding information are received at the depository bank, they are used to make the appropriate deposits to the depositor's account.
While such systems add convenience for depositors and reduce the amount of, and thus the cost of, bank operator intervention, they do introduce the potential for fraud. For example, a depositor may attempt to deposit a single check multiple times by scanning and submitting it for deposit multiple times or by scanning it for electronic deposit and then subsequently attempting to redeposit it physically at a bank branch. Thus, there is a need for a remote check capture system and method that reduces the risk of fraud from multiple attempts to deposit the same check.